What's in a name?

I am frequently asked about the name of my new company, so it seems fitting this blog would answer the question.  Entropy derives from the second law of thermodynamics and may be simply stated as the spreading of energy until it is evenly distributed.  Even distribution is a high level of Entropy, and concentrated energy is low Entropy..  The Entropy of any system plus the environment in which it operates increases over time, and this is often interpreted as implying that disorder, randomness, and chaos also increase over time. 

Applied to design of the built environment, Entropy may be temporarily decreased within the isolated “system” of a building, city, or space, resulting in ideal thermal comfort for its inhabitants.  Doing so will always entail an increase of Entropy in the Environment to which those systems are connected.  By maintaining a building with concentrated heat or cooling inside, we actually increase the total Entropy of that system plus the environment more than if we had not undertaken the work at all.  In essence, the very act of building increases the Entropy of our planetary environment. 

The same consequences apply equally to the materials we use in our buildings and cities.  A brick may seem like a very orderly object, but it came at the expense of even less order within the environment from which it was derived. 

Understanding this dynamic leads responsible designers to seek solutions that minimize the rate at which Entropy proceeds.  Ideally, we would design so responsibly that there is no net increase in Entropy, or at least no increase in the natural rate of Entropy on Earth.  I believe that we could ultimately use Entropy as a fundamental measurement of the sustainability of design decisions.  Until that time, we must rely on cruder tools such as energy use intensity or carbon emissions. 

In conclusion, my company is named after a concept that is misunderstood as disorder, but in reality lies at the heart of every process in our natural and built worlds.